Multiple DM Instances with different campaigns on different ports vs one big campaign

[dearestleader]

Hi All,

With the pandemic I'm getting to the point that players across different campaigns are wanting to connect and use the Shops extension to buy equipment and do character sheet management (5e), or read handouts etc. at almost any time of the day. I believe I have a workaround for this problem but wanted to run it by everyone.

Using LAN game only:
Load a Campaign but use a different port for each one. Leave them running at the same time so I don't need to exit out of a workspace or tell the players they have to wait until Campaign 1's game is over before I load Campaign 2 for them to read handouts or do character sheet activities.

Is that the best way to handle the multiple campaigns at once issue? Any possibility of corrupting anything?

As an alternative I could create Big Campaign 1 and import everyone's character sheets into this one big campaign and use modules for content. That way players from different tables can come and go as they please while a game is running since the active characters in the party sheet and combat tracker are what will matter if a game is going on. It adds a layer of complexity but does away with the multiple port issue.

Any thoughts on technical possibilities between the two vs ease of use?

[LordEntrails]

The biggest/only significant challenge I see with using multiple ports is in terms of having to remember/stay consistent with what ports you use for each cmapaigm, and having the players use the specified ports.

The one campaign idea has the problem/annoyance (at least) that you can't leave one party with all it's effects and hit points on the CT. Especially annoying if you stop play in the middle of a fight etc.

[WindrunnerCGG]

I'll echo everything @LordEntrails said above, but I will tell you that I have opened multiple games and given them unique ports and it has worked just fine. I had 3 open at once.

Windrunner

[dearestleader]

Thanks everyone! It doesn't look like there's a technical limitation. It seems more like what is best for the situation.

Right now I'm leaning toward the Big Campaign 1 approach. I've got 6 tables running right now with more possibly on the way. Having 6+ copies of FG running at once and keeping them straight would be fun on the task bar (not) and could be a resource drain at 2-3GB of RAM each. The Combat Tracker issue is good to know but unlikely to affect me since we always end with the group back in town. Every game ends or starts with a long rest under 5e rules. The areas I can think of so far that might be painful is having tons of characters under Big Campaign 1 and what to do with the party sheet Parcel items. We have lots of one shot characters that accumulate that get repurposed as pregens. One campaign is up to 25 characters. Multiply that by 6-10 and that could be interesting. The players have a habit of leaving items inventory in the party sheet for weeks at a time so we might have to make a house rule that somebody takes it because leaving it there between sessions will definitely cause problems. Thanks all for giving me more to think about.

[Valyar]

The only big problem with Big Campaign approach is sharing assets across parties. If you are heavy image/handout user and share with the group a lot of stuffs keeping track what should be shared with who is very tedious.

[WindrunnerCGG]

You certainly run a unique set of games with 25 characters in a campaign and 6 or more of those campaigns. I agree with your approach to having some house rules to deal with some of your unique situations. I also think you should pick an approach that minimizes work on your part, so you have more time for your DM activities.

Windrunner

[jedorian]

Hey there folks. So I'm about to run a campaign that will have two groups playing on different days, same campaign.

I was wondering what options were available for dealing with that and found this thread.

If I use the different ports, does that save the campaign information differently for each game (i.e. CT and party sheet info)?

[dearestleader]

Yes, if you create 2 different campaigns and put them on different ports they're separated like they normally would be. The only difference is you can have 2 copies of FG running at the same time as a DM, so players will be able to come and go and not see materials from other campaigns such as the Party Sheet or list of available PCs

[LordEntrails]

You only need to do this if you want to leave both campaigns running at the same time. The vast majority of GMs who run multiple campaigns never need to do this. For most, you only run your campaign when you are playing and for a short time before and/or after, and then sometimes at requested by players.

The technique described here is for those GMs who want to run a full-time FG server with multiple campaigns so that players can log on at any time.

[dearestleader]

You certainly run a unique set of games with 25 characters in a campaign and 6 or more of those campaigns. I agree with your approach to having some house rules to deal with some of your unique situations. I also think you should pick an approach that minimizes work on your part, so you have more time for your DM activities.
Windrunner

It is pretty different. I run Drop In Campaigns so we have a core group of players but there is a standing invite online to "drop in" for one shotters. These one shotters either will play once and never return or they will commit to a lesser schedule such as once every 2-4 weeks. We do that thematically to cut down on the number of NPCs that the players recruit from the tavern to increase their numbers. Random players who drop in to the table fill that role. Plus you could have a pick pocket or assassin who drops into the party. The players like it because it truly is random and I like it because I don't need to build up NPC backstory and then roll on a table to see if this person is an ally or if they work for some enemy.

We kind of solved the character build up issue with a house rule that says if you don't play for 30 days we affix "Pregen" to your character's name and it becomes a pregen character usable by anyone. 76% of my players are one shotters who drop into an ongoing campaign and 51% are people that ask to be admitted to the table with less than 8 hours before play time, usually with no VTT experience and some do not even have characters made up on D&D Beyond that we can import. Having that large volume of unused characters has turned into an asset.

But now that I have multiple campaigns running, players want to go online and rearrange their spells or buy equipment using the Shops extension at any hour of the day kind of like they would on D&D Beyond. I run urban campaigns almost exclusively. My procedures at end of game are give a long rest because they are always back at an inn, then clean out the party sheet and combat tracker. At the next session I add the players to the Party Sheet and Combat Tracker who say they're going to make it. The downside I run into now is I end up with is characters are replicated into whatever campaign is running at the time when they connect. I've got 6 different "bob the tabaxi" across 6 different campaigns because the player just logged on for whatever reason. Take that across 6 different campaigns and it fills up no matter what. It looks like House Rules and some DM procedures at game end/start with a single Big Campaign are going to be the way to go for my circumstances.